A rare ,1975, Vauxhall Firenza HP 'Droopsnoot', on display at the London Classic Car Show
The Firenza is a model of car offered by Vauxhall Motors from May 1971 until 1975. It was a development of the Viva, but had a distinctive coupé body style (fastback) and only two doors. In 1973, Vauxhall acknowledged that their rather dull model range needed a makeover, and developed a radical version of the Firenza, known officially as the High Performance (HP) Firenza, but known colloquially as the "droopsnoot" after its dramatically styled aerodynamic nose. The nose was moulded from GRP, and featured two pairs of Cibié headlamps behind toughened glass covers. The overall look was somewhat reminiscent of the Renault Alpine A310, and used the same headlamp units. Several prototypes of the HP Firenza were considered with different types of front end treatment, requiring different degrees of change from the standard production front end, including cars known as Black Knight and Daytona, the latter for its resemblance to the Ferrari Daytona, a favourite of Wayne Cherry. HPF in side view shows off coupé bodyshell style At that time, the original flat-fronted Firenza model was rebadged as the Magnum coupé, and the name Firenza was used exclusively for the HP version. This car was an exciting styling departure for Vauxhall, and certainly created something of a buzz. The engine was the variant of the OHC Slant Four engine, uprated to a very torquey 131 bhp (98 kW) using a variety of parts developed by Blydenstein Racing. It had twin 175 Stromberg carburettors, high-lift camshaft and free-flow tubular exhaust manifold. The car was restyled on the David Jones original by American designer Wayne Cherry and the result was an exceptionally low drag coefficient for its time. Suspension was uprated and lowered, brakes uprated, and a 5-speed ZF dog leg gearbox was installed, a much stronger unit than fitted to the standard model (though rather noisy).
Size: 5616px × 3744px
Location: ExCeL London, One Western Gateway, Royal Victoria Dock, London, E16 1XL
Photo credit: © John Gaffen 2 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1975, 2-door, avenue, car, classic, coupé, droopsnoot, fastback, firenza, grand, high, hp, london, performance, rare, show, vauxhall
